Agree there. You'd think that somewhere around the four or five hundredth page he might have noticed that. The movie has its charm though. One of those good bad movies that's so poorly acted you can't help but smile.
I mean, I get that he sells a bazillion books no matter what's between the covers, but part of me is surprised his publisher didn't ask him to take it back to the drawing board.
Well yeah, I was implying that with the bazillion books part. I fully believe he could write the book you see Jack writing in the movie version of The Shining (pages of nothing but "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." typed over and over again) and it would hit the NYT bestseller list by lunchtime.
Exactly, which is why his publisher didn't send him to the drawing board. King turns an enormous profit no matter what he does. And there are still people who liked Dreamcatcher, so it's not that it was objectively bad, just not what a lot of King fans would consider his best work. I can't say I would have done any different had I been his publisher... But I'm not a publisher, and probably definitely don't know shit. Your guess is as good as mine, sister.
The Road is always what comes to mind, but others - which I was supposed to read for school and skipped out on - include Anne of Green Gables, The Great Gatsby, The Crucible ... I know there were others but I think I've blacked them out. Made myself finish Catcher in the Rye - hated it, but I think my lit grades were already bad enough that year and I had to read something. I remember skimming Dorian Gray, technically finished it but didn't absorb much along the way. I think I was interested in the story but couldn't get into the writing? Don't remember. I did the same with Frankenstein and Dracula - really wanted to like them but found the prose frustrating. I was pretty young; I should give'em another chance. I'm really not very well-read, but damned if I didn't read at least a two or four books a week back in the day. Quantity over quality, I guess!
Didn't Finish The Hobbit and one of the other LOTR books. As fun as watching paint dry. A Christmas Carol. I plan to finish this one day, but I don't find Dickens' writing engaging. Fall of Giants, Ken Follett. I like his Cathedral books but this one was dire. Eclipse. I got through the first two Twilights but I couldn't make it through the others. Any Stephen King novel. I've tried multiple times but life is too short to read 1,000 pages of drivel. Finished but Didn't Enjoy The Picture of Dorian Gray. I can't stand Oscar Wilde's pretentiousness but in a kind of love-to-hate way--I finished the novel so I could bitch about it longer, I guess. Several Shakespeare plays (not novels, obviously, but was forced to read them like they were). When are we going to stop putting off teenagers from literature with 500-year-old plays? Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Dire. I'm sure there are others in both categories but nothing comes to mind. I enjoyed most of the books I read in English classes including Grapes of Wrath, The Pearl, Jane Eyre, and Of Mice and Men.
I have lots of books I didn't finish but intend to go back to someday. I just wasn't ready for them, I guess. I've got a few I can't stand, though. And won't be going back to. I love historical fiction and 19th century writers, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and etc. But I cannot stand Thomas Hardy. His style drives me nuts. I've seen a few of his stories turned into films, and they were fine, so it wasn't the plot that was the problem for me. But reading them was torture. I've tried two, and failed to get past the first couple of chapters. Enuff. I threw the opening Outlander book into the bin (Cross-Stitch, I believe it was called), about 3/4 of the way through. Seriously implausible and ludicrous story, hackily written and dippily researched. I understand the filmed version is an improvement, but the believability bar was VERY low.
Is it her style you don't like? Not a fan of time travel? Or is it that you live in Scotland, and she wrote Outlander before she'd ever been there?
I run a quiz on Twitter, and when I set a Hardy question everyone bitched about how much they hate him. I love Victorian writers in general, adore Hardy and can't stand Dickens.
Blood Meridian, by St. Cormac. I liked The Road, so it's not his "too cool for punctuation" that got me, I just did not give a flying fuck about any one of the characters, not even to the point that I wanted to see them die horribly. The Art of Racing in the Rain. Sentimental tripe, and whatsisface, the race driver, was a malicious, unsportsmanlike asshole, a danger to himself and others, so seeing him idolized by a weepy mutt just turned my stomach. Probably more, but those are two that spring instantly to mind.
Yes, it's her style I don't like. REALLY don't like. In fact, when I heard about this story from a good friend (USA) who told me about what happened in it, the time travel element sounded quite intriguing. So I bought the first book, fully prepared to enjoy it. I had no idea Gabaldon hadn't been to Scotland at that time (she's been since) although I began to suspect that was the case, the more I read.... To explain more fully what went wrong, for me, I've shamelessly snaffled a review on Amazon that basically says it all, in the correct tone. A lot better than I could have done.
Well, Hardy has a good enough reputation that people study him. And I did like the 'stories'—at least when I saw them filmed. I just found his style awkward and bordering on hysterical in places. I had expected to enjoy him. In fact, I downloaded several of his books at the same time, and settled in to read. But they didn't grab me. Ach well, to each his own, eh?
Am I the only person on the planet who has never read a Stephen King book all the way through? I just haven't. Probably because 'horror' is definitely not my thing, and that's how he started out. I read Cujo, or rather started reading it, but I had to take it back to the library before I was done, and I just never bothered to renew it. I didn't hate it, but it didn't grab me either. I have read bits from his articles on the craft of writing, though, and found them useful. I should probably read at least one of his books, because he's such a famous author. It would be nice to relate to what other people think of him, either good or bad. I'll think about it.
Nope - he's on my list of 'authors whose books I can't finish.' Horror is my main genre for reading but there's nothing about King's writing I like. It really does baffle me that he's so popular.
Okay, I'll probably leave reading him till my deathbed. I haven't been attracted to him at all. It's only that so many people talk about him, one way or the other. But life is short. Maybe I'll have another go at Thomas Hardy instead!
Read Different Seasons. It's the one that Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption came out of, and it gives you a good idea of what he excels at within his horror books without the horror.
I finished It. There was a good story there, but he could've told it in half the number of pages. That, and the orgy near the end turned me off almost completely.
The Dead Zone is pretty good in that respect too. And it's eerily prescient considering the most recent U.S. presidential race and subsequent election.
To my surprise I'm really struggling with American gods -All the reviews suggested that it would be great, Wrey said he loved loved loved it and we generally have similar tastes in books, I've read and enjoyed other books by Gaiman , but somehow its just not happening.... the whole setup feels unconvincing, and I find it hard to care about any of the characters - Wednesday is downright irritating, and I don't really care that much about Shadow as an MC. I have a feeling its going to wind up in the half read pile next to the bed, eventually to be demoted to propping up the short bed leg next time i break it
I'll try to think of more known or controversial ones Harry potter Twilight (I was in middle school when this was coming out, I still hated it then.) A Series of Unfortunate Events
I'm stupid picky with the books I read, so I seldom fail to finish. There are two notable standouts: Shogun, by James Clavell, which I began reading in the last bit of high school. It was so long that I graduated. The fifth Harry Potter book. Bored me to death and I just quit halfway through. Never finished the series.
Fahrenheit 451 On the Road Hyperion Trainspotting Star Maker Cocaine Nights In Cold Blood And about three squillion others. I've quit on far more books than I've finished.
